UA Cossatot OER Director Relinda Ruth chosen to represent the University of Arkansas System on U.S. / Canada OER Panel

OER Specialist Relinda Ruth

After reviewing the Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3) statement of purpose and agreeing with the goals of broad-based, accessible open educational resources (OER), the University of Arkansas System joined the group of 36 public higher education systems and statewide/provincewide organizations committed to supporting student success through OER. UA System President Donald Bobbitt recommended UA Cossatot’s Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist Relinda Ruth to represent the UA System in DOERS3.

“I am extremely honored that Dr. Bobbitt selected me to represent the UA System within a group committed to developing national and state innovation in OER research, policy, and quality, and I’m looking forward to representing the System in a collaborated effort to improve access, affordability, and achievement for millions of students.” Ruth said, “At UA Cossatot, our OER program has saved students $190,440 during the Fall 2023 semester. Since the implementation of our efforts to reduce or eliminate textbook and educational resource costs for our students in 2015, total savings now amount to $3,387,521.25. We anticipate the savings to top $3.5 million after the Spring 2024 semester.”

The Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3) Collaborative is a group of 36 public higher education systems and statewide/provincewide organizations committed to supporting student success by promoting free, customizable, open educational resources (OER). Launched in 2018, DOERS3 helps member organizations implement, scale, and sustain OER by advancing research and policy, sharing tools and learnings, and showing how OER can foster equity and student success. DOERS3 serves over 7.65 million students at 829 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada.

UA Cossatot Selected for OpenStax OER Institutional Partner Program

Less than a year after UA Cossatot announced that it saved students a total of $3.2 million through its textbook rental program and open educational resources (OER) initiative, it has been selected as one of only sixteen institutions in the U.S. for the 2023-24 OpenStax OER Institutional Partner Program.

UA Cossatot leads Arkansas in OER usage, with 71 percent of courses using open resources, and was selected to participate in this national strategic partnership after a rigorous application process that demonstrated a willingness to continue its commitment to lowering student costs through the state’s first internal textbook rental and OER program. UA Cossatot will receive individualized consulting and support from experts in institutional change management and strategic initiatives designed to increase campus use of free, openly licensed OpenStax textbooks and other open educational resources.

“Being selected to participate in OpenStax’s Institutional Partner Program is quite an honor and just one more way in which we strengthen our role as the state’s OER leader and expand our OER initiative to promote an even wider and richer stage for open education,” said OER Specialist and Director of Educational Resources Relinda Ruth.

UA Cossatot Chancellor Dr. Steve Cole commented,” We decided over six years ago to commit our college to saving our students money, and one of the best ways to do this was to provide Open Educational Resources. During this time, with the help of our OER Director and our faculty, we have converted almost 70% percent of all of our courses to OER, saving our students over three million dollars on textbook costs. We are proud of those efforts and will continue to lead the way in developing more OER opportunities.”

OpenStax is a nonprofit charitable corporation based out of Rice University that publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed, openly licensed college textbooks that are freely available online and low-cost in print. Their textbooks are used in 60 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S. and over 140 countries. Institutional partners typically increase the number of students using OER by over 150 percent after completing the first year of the program. During the last two years, partner institutions have saved students $19.6 million.

Director Ruth also leads the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Arkansas State OER Action Team and serves on the SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative. Having just completed an intensive online year-long professional program in open education through Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia, she will be traveling to Edmonton, Canada, and Washington D.C. during October to learn more about ways in which to support open education. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education invited Ruth to speak at the 2023 Oklahoma OER Summit in Midwest City in November.

OER Digest lists UA Cossatot in Stories from the Field

UA Cossatot made the OER Digest again! The OER Digest is a monthly newsletter for open education created in 2015 by Creative Commons USA, SPARC, and the Student PIRGs. While the primary audience is the OER community in the U.S. and Canada, subscribers come from around the globe.

UA Cossatot is listed in “Stories from the Field” right along with Michigan and Ireland.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM MICHIGAN: Northern Michigan University has established an Open Educational Resource (OER) Faculty Learning Community. This pioneering initiative is part of a two-year pilot program aimed at promoting widespread OER adoption across campus and facilitating professional development opportunities. Reflecting the university's commitment to accessibility, this community of faculty members is working to revolutionize higher education. Leslie Warren, interim associate provost and dean of Library and Instructional Support, remarked, "The open education resource movement is another way that faculty can remove barriers and support students." With Olson Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning leading the charge, Northern Michigan University takes pride in laying the groundwork for OER, striving to reduce textbook costs, enhance affordability, bridge equity gaps, and empower more students to successfully complete their degrees.

FROM IRELAND: Dundalk Institute of Technology’s National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education recently received an esteemed UNESCO Prize. Their work developing the National Resource Hub and Open Courses was recognized and applauded. One of the members of the team, Dr. Ronan Bree played an instrumental role in the development of the National Resource Hub, a user-friendly platform facilitating engagement with open educational resources across the sector. He shared how “The National Resource Hub…offers opportunities for anyone to submit and access open educational resources… in any form, and in any media format.” This hub makes accessing and sharing OER easier than ever. The goal of this project is to support Irish Higher Education and contribute to transformative education.

FROM ARKANSAS: Since launching its Open Educational Resource program in 2015, the University of Arkansas Cossatot has made strides in saving students textbook costs. The college has successfully saved students a total of $3,197,081.25 to date, with each academic year showing notable savings. Educational Resources Director and OER Specialist Relinda Ruth, who chairs the Arkansas OER Taskforce, stated “Saving our students nearly 3.2 million in textbook expenses is one way UA Cossatot shows its commitment to student success… we’re excited to look at more open educational practices like open pedagogies, scholarship, and educational technologies that will continue to make higher education more accessible to students.” As UA Cossatot prepares to begin the fall 2023 semester, an impressive 71% of courses will offer OER options, ensuring continued benefits for students.

UA Cossatot’s Textbook Rental and OER Program Saved Students Over $3 Million Dollars

UA Cossatot’s textbook rental and Open Educational Resource (OER) program has saved students $3,004,899.01. What began as a chancellor’s vision in 2015 exceeded all expectations in 2022. Nearly 70% of courses at UA Cossatot are taught with OER.

UA Cossatot Chancellor, Dr. Steve Cole recently recognized Relinda Ruth, Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist, for her efforts in building this program and leading the OER effort in Arkansas. Dr. Cole also commended Ruth for serving as a leader for the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Arkansas State OER Action Team and leading the Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC) consortial membership with the Open Education Network (OEN). “Good visions only become reality if the right persons can see them through. In our case, that person was Relinda Ruth. She not only built this program but just like Johnny Appleseed, she has provided her ideas and leadership community to Arkansas and the United States. This program would not have happened without Relinda!” said Cole.

Ruth was recently invited to Florida to join the SREB Educational Technology Cooperative (ETC) alongside 11 others representing 16 southern states.

UA Cossatot continues to lead Arkansas in OER usage and has become a leader in the OER world. Ruth has traveled to other colleges across the state to help educators move toward OER. Ruth has shared her

experience in building an internal textbook rental and OER program through national interviews, presentations, publications, blogs, and even podcasts. To date, she’s presented at 20 state and national conferences.

“It’s amazing what everyone at UA Cossatot has accomplished with our textbook rental and OER program. Dr. Cole had a vision of making college more affordable to students and the entire UA Cossatot team worked together to make it a reality,” said Ruth.

Ruth will travel to Atlanta in March 2023 to present at the SREB OER and Dual Enrollment Conference. Her focus is expanding the use of OER in developmental education and college readiness in Arkansas Community Colleges.

For more information on UA Cossatot’s textbook rental and OER program, contact Relinda Ruth at 870-584-1181 or rruth@cccua.edu.

Relinda Ruth of UA Cossatot contributing to OER and OEN national events

Relinda Ruth of the UA Cossatot OER and Arkansas OEN

Our money-saving textbook policy is one aspect of a UA Cossatot educational experience that is different from many other colleges. Relinda Ruth not only heads up our Open Education Resources, but she is a recognized leader in the state in this field. Relinda was recently interviewed by the Open Education Network. That interview can be found at https://open.umn.edu/.../member-spotlight-arkansas...

Recently, the ACC joined the OEN. The OEN recently interviewed Relinda Ruth about Arkansas’s move toward OER and the ACC’s recent membership to the OEN. They published the interview on their blog- https://open.umn.edu/oen/blog-and-events 

As the Arkansas OEN leader, Ruth participated in a 3-hour synchronous Zoom session on Wednesday morning. The presenters for the train-the-trainer event were Meggie Mapes, Introductory Course Director at the University of Kansas, and Cheryl Casey, Open Education Librarian at the University of Arizona. 

There are 8 OEN delegates around the state, and institutions can select three individuals to serve as OER ambassadors. Arkansas can have 75 Open Educational Resource (OER) ambassadors among the ACC’s institutions. Ambassadors will be trained to bring expertise, mentorship, and best practices back to their member community. They will learn to facilitate workshops to engage and support faculty through a train-the-trainer event.